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COPYRIGHT DtTOSIT 



Tales of Old Maryland 



History and Romance on the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland 

BY 

J. H. K. Shannahan, Jr. 



PRESS OF 

MEYER & THALHEIMER 

Baltimore 



f\^ 



[itBRAHYof CONGRESS 
Two Ooofcs Received 
MAY 27 190? 

ISv Cepynrtt Enfry 

J cussfl A XX'., no- 

COPY B/ 



Copyright, 1907 



TALES OF OLD MARYLAND 



CONTENTS. 



I. In Ye Olden Time. 
II. The Romance of Wye House. 

III. Fred. Douglass. 

IV. The Quaint Little Town of Oxford. 

Tench Tilghman. 
Robert Morris. 
V. Old White Marsh Church. 
VI. A House with a Strange History. 
VII. The Story of Royal Oak. 
VIII. The Old Quaker Meeting House. 
IX. Some Old Colonial Homes. 
X. Patty Cannon. 




" To all Eastern Shoremen 
Where e 'er dispersed. ' ' 




BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 

r T is not to be supposed that the 
sketches contained in this little vol- 
ume cover all those places and per- 
sons of the Eastern Shore that might 
be justly entitled to an appearance here. I 
have merely collected those which in my hum- 
ble opinion were the most interesting and were 
more available. 

I am one of those who think the Eastern 
Shore of Maryland the ' ' Garden Spot ' ' of 
the World — have been taught that from the 
cradle up. Many of the tales told here are 
some we have heard since childhood, and as 
this is an inquiring age, in recent years I have 
looked into them a little to ascertain just 
how much was fiction and how much was 
truth. I have concluded that it is difficult 
to draw a hard and fast line between them 
with the meagre information at hand, and 
have therefore let legend and fact go hand in 
hand with but one object in view, that of pre- 
senting a series of sketches, founded on fact, 



By Way of Introduction 



which may help to while away an occasional 
hour or two. 

Many of the stories are told differently in 
diverse localities, which must always be so 
as long as no special effort is made to preserve 
for future generations the history and tradi- 
tions of the present. Many have been handed 
down by word of mouth from one generation 
to another, and no doubt have gained or lost 
color in the telling. 

There has never been a time when the 
Colonial period has been before the public 
as now. Many are turning to the Colonial 
type in building their homes and in furnishing 
them. This, too, caused me to feel a pardon- 
able pride in the richness of our possessions 
of that period, the most picturesque of our 
history, and to feel a desire to present to the 
public sketches of these grand old buildings 
which have stood the test of time, and are 
today the best examples of the Georgian style 
of architecture in this country. 



By Way of Introduction 

_^____ ■ 

_ ■ 

My acknowledgements are due Col. Edward 
Lloyd of Wye House ; Mr. C. Howard Lloyd ; 
Mr. Charles Goldsborough of Myrtle Grove; 
Col. Oswald Tilghman, Secretary of State; 
Col. Henry Hollyday, Jr.; Mr. P. M. Pastor- 
field of Royal Oak ; Mr. S. Elliott Shannahan, 
and especially to Mr. Wilson M. Tylor of 
Easton, who did much towards making this 
book possible, giving me the use of several 
cuts used in the publication of his more pre- 
tentious and comprehensive volume, "The 
Land of Legendary Lore," from which I have 
drawn freely, and which I can recommend as 
an interesting history of this favored region. 
If I succeed in placing this little volume 
in the hands of those, who like myself, were 
born on the Eastern Shore, but whose business 
has taken them elsewhere, I shall have accom- 
plished all I hoped for. 




CHAPTER I. 
/ 

IN YE OLDEN TIME 

CARE not where you go, nowhere 
does the sun shine on a fairer land 
than the Eastern Shore of Mary- 
land. Situated on the peninsula 
formed on the one side by the waters of the 
Chesapeake, whose many estuaries wind in and 
out among its fertile farms, and on the other 
by the State of Delaware and the Atlantic, 
it presents natural charms, which in the early 
days of the colonization period, invited many 
families of position and wealth from the old 
country, to build there a new home. And 
today we find the same conditions existing. 
While the ravages of man in the past two 
hundred years have somewhat depleted its 
natural resources of oysters, crabs, fish and 
that most toothsome of all the Chesapeake Bay 
delicacies — the diamond back terrapin — it is still 
a land of plenty, flowing with milk and honey. 
The old spirit of hospitality for which it has 
been famous the world over, still exists, and 
the casual visitor within its domains, is given 



Tales of Old Maryland 



the glad hand and the best the land affords. 
Nor must we think of it for its productive- 
ness only, for there much of our state history 
has been made, and the many romances woven 
about the old country places, some of which 
have been in the same families for generation 
after generation, are of interest not merely to 
those who live there, but read like so many 
fairy tales. 

To the student of what we now call "Col- 
onial Architecture ' ' there is no better field, for 
there are many relics of the manor houses of 
the pre- Revolutionary period, not copies, but 
houses which have stood the tests of two cen- 
turies or more. 

During the period with which our narra- 
tion is mostly concerned, what we now call 
the ■ ' Georgian ' ' style of architecture, was 
affected in England and the gentlemen who 
came over to this side to build themselves 
homes, built after the same manner. On 
account of the impracticability of bringing 



In Ye Olden Time 



over marble with which to build and because 
of the abundance of timber of all kinds, the 
houses were of frame construction, of large 
and generous proportions, though many were 
built of brick brought over from England in 
the ships which came for tobacco. 

I cannot conceive a life better worth liv- 
ing than that enjoyed on the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland a hundred or more years ago, by 
what the slaves called "quality folks." The 
large plantation of a thousand or more acres 
with its commodious manor house — the scene 
of many a revelry — the quarters for the slaves, 
altogether made the planter a veritable Norman 
lord with a feudal system all his own, yet void 
of that harshness which marked the reign of 
his earlier brother. Hospitality and courtesy 
were the key-notes of the day. A living was 
there in plenty for every man. There was not 
the grand scramble we now see on every side of 
us, the stronger passing rough-shod over his less 
fortunate brother, anything in order to get there. 



Tales of Old Maryland 



So far as the picturesque is concerned, to 

my mind the social life of that day, if a bit 

more ceremonious than at present, was far 

more pleasing. Picture Christmas morning on 

one of the old plantations. You are awakened 

at the break of day by a chorus of darkies 

singing under your window : 

"Christmas comes but once a year 
and dis am Christmas mawning." 

You arise to the grateful glow and warmth 
of the old fire-place in which a house servant 
had kindled a fire while you slept. 

On appearing on the broad veranda you are 
greeted by the family of your host, who is 
receiving his black henchmen one by one, and 
presenting each with some trifling present, 
while the delighted blacks bow and scrape 
with a "thanky, Massa." One of the older 
field hands then approaches and with a grin 
announces that the log is ready. 

According to the old custom, on Christmas 
morning a new back log was placed in the fire- 



In Ye Olden Time 



place of the great room, and as long as it 
burned, the slaves had a holiday, excepting 
the small chores which must be done. Usually 
the log had been kept soaking in a neighbor- 
ing swamp since the previous Christmas, but 
the master was always informed with many 
wags of the head, that "de shorely wouldn't 
have much of a holiday dis year, for dat log 
am dry as tinder." 

Passing over the other events of the day 
until you were summoned to dinner, which 
was served by an old colored butler, usually 
the descendant of several generations who had 
served the same family in that capacity, the 
table of polished mahogany fairly groaned 
under the load of good things piled upon it. 
The barbarian custom of serving one course 
at a time had not then been introduced, and 
the master of the house did the carving at 
the table, with his guests as delighted wit- 
nesses of his deft movements with knife, never 
once removing his fork until the fowl had 



Tales of Old Maryland 



been neatly and accurately dismembered and 
served. 

Passing on again to the dance in the 
evening, the uncarpeted floors had been pre- 
viously waxed and prepared for the occasion, 
and two negro violinists from the "quarters " 
brought in to furnish the music. All the 
country squires and belles within a radius of 
thirty miles are there. The room with its 
quaint, simple, yet elegant furniture, huge 
fireplace, wax candles, and the gracefully mov- 
ing couples in the minuet, make a picture we 
can not equal today, no matter how spacious 
the surroundings. 

Compare the stately country gentleman in 
his knee breeches, lace waistcoat, silk hose, 
buckled slippers, powdered hair and cocked 
hat (which played a prominent part in the 
bows of that period) with the gentleman of 
today in his immaculate shirt front and sombre 
clothes. 



In Ye Olden Time 



If we could, by virtue of our wish, by 
some magic be whisked out of these times of 
haste and insincerity, back to those times of 
peace and plenty, I do not think many of us 
would care to give up even those primitive 
ways for the modern conveniences and preten- 
sions of the twentieth century. 

But enough of "what was"; let us see 
what we have left of this almost forgotten 
period of luxury and ease, and see how the 
sons of these sturdy country squires have 
aided in the building of the state and nation. 



CHAPTER II. 




THE ROMANCE OF WYE HOUSE 

HILE there are many families in 
Maryland now living on estates 
granted their ancestors by the 
Lords Proprietors, Wye House 
in Talbot County, for more than two hundred 
years the ancestral home of the Lloyd family ; 
in point of dignity, beauty of location and 
richness in associations, is the peer of anything 
of its kind, not only in Maryland, but the 
country at large. 

In 1668, Edward Lloyd, the first of that 
name in Maryland, set up his son, Philemon, 
as Master of Wye. Ever since that time the 
estate has been handed down from one gener- 
ation of Edward Lloyds to another, until now 
the seventh of that name in a direct line 
is the holder of the property. The first two 
returned to England, there died and were 
buried. In the old family burying ground 
at Wye, which stands back of the manor 
house, there lie four succeeding generations 



IO Tales of Old Maryland 

of the name, four grave-stones bearing the 
name of Edward Lloyd. Besides the present 
courtly master of Wye, there are his son 
Edward, and his grandson Edward, making 
nine successive generations of the same name 
in Maryland. 

The original house of Wye was burned by 
the British shortly after the breaking out of 
the Revolutionary war, and was robbed of 
many rich treasures, both paintings and plate. 
All the old records of the Lloyd family up to 
that time perished in the flames. Later, after 
the war was over, several pieces of plate, 
bearing the arms of the family, were returned 
by the Crown. 

Of the original manor house only a frag- 
ment remains, and that is now used as an 
outbuilding, occupied by an employee of the 
estate. 

The present house of Wye was built just 
before the end of the Revolutionary war, and 



The Romance of Wye House n 

remains today intact, just as constructed over 
125 years ago, a monument not only to the 
elegance of that period, but to the thorough- 
ness with which the artisans of that day 
builded. The joists of the house are appar- 
ently as solid now as when first put in. 

"The main building of two lofty stories, 
including the hall, drawing-room, parlor, din- 
ing-room and chambers, all of noble propor- 
tions, is connected by corridors with one 
storied wings in which are the library on one 
side and the domestic offices on the other, 
presenting a pleasing facade of two hundred 
feet, crowning an eminence which commands a 
view of the lawn and leafy avenue and over 
the woods to Wye River and the Bay." 

Back of the manor is an old garden with 
many beautiful winding walks, along which 
many generations of the Lloyds have strolled 
with their sweethearts, ending at an artistic 
little arbor at the far end of the garden, 



12 Tales of Old Maryland 

beneath which the lovers plighted their troth. 
Behind the garden is the family burying 
ground, rich in information for the genealo- 
gist. Here have been buried many illustrious 
sons and daughters of the Lloyds, both those 
who were born to the name and those who 
acquired it by marriage. Commodore Lowndes 
and Admiral Buchanan, both of whom married 
daughters of Wye, are also buried here. 

The entrance to the burying ground is 
formed by an old brick arch, flanked on either 
side by a wall fast crumbling away. No one 
seems to know just how old this wall is, but 
it is thought to have been built at the time 
the original house was constructed. 

Many of the grave-stones are crumbling, 
others have been restored. Some of them are 
very interesting, as much from the quaint 
inscriptions they bear as for their great age. 

One of the oldest bears this inscription : 




ENTRANCE TO BURYING GROUND AT WYE 



The Romance of Wye House 13 

HENRIETTA MARIA LLOYD, 

Shee who now takes her Rest within this Tomb 
Had Rachel's Face and Leah's fruitful womb, 
Abigail's Wisdom, Lydia's faithful heart, 
With Martha's care and Mary's better Part. 

Who died the 21st day of May 
(Anno) Dom. 1697, aged 50 years, 
months. 23 days. 

To whose Memory Richard Bennett dedicates this Tomb. 

No one seems to know how many acres 
were comprised in the original grant to 
Edward Lloyd I, but the present Master of 
Wye inherited from his father something over 
5000 acres, though the estate has dwindled 
somewhat below that now. 

Imagine life at Wye in Governor Lloyd's 
time. The Governor was the fifth of his name 
and early represented his district at Annapolis, 
later became Governor of the State, went to 
Congress and to the Senate. Surrounded there 
on every hand with the luxuries of life ; the 
products of field and river fairly bursting his 
storehouses ; with hundreds of slaves to carry 



14 Tales oj Old Maryland 

on the plantation of many thousand acres, his 
was the life worth living. In his time grain 
had supplanted tobacco as a crop, and Gover- 
nor Iyloyd was the largest and most successful 
wheat grower of his day, while his live stock 
was the pride of the country. To this day, 
the cattle raised at Wye are the finest which 
go to the city markets. 

It was a sister of the Governor, who when 
quite a lass, while the British were despoiling 
the place, sat in a chair and covering her gold 
shoe buckle with her hand, defied them to 
take it. 

Before we close this narrative of Wye 
House and its associations, there is a little 
romance relating how the beautiful Sarah Cov- 
ington became the Mistress of Wye, which we 
must not overlook. 

It happened at one of the quarterly meet- 
ings of the Society of Friends at the old 
Third Haven Meeting House, near Talbot 
Court House, that the brothers, Philemon and 



The Romance of Wye House 15 

Edward Lloyd 3d, for the first time saw the 
demure Quaker maiden and both fell instantly 
in love with her. 

After the meeting, each with his own plan 
in his mind, made some excuse to his friends, 
mounted his horse, and rode in an opposite 
direction from his brother. After allowing 
sufficient time for the others to become pretty 
well scattered, each turned his horse towards 
Somerset, the home of Miss Covington, and 
met at her gate. First they swore, then they 
laughed, and then spoke Edward, the elder : 
"In as much as she can not be for us both, 
let her be for him who saw her first." 

Whereupon said Phil : ' ' No sooner had I 
taken my seat in the meeting than I saw and 
loved her." 

And said Edward : "I saw her first on 
the county road, seated on the pillion behind 
her father, who did enquire of me the road to 
the Meeting House, whereupon I did fall in 
love with the maid." 



16 Tales of Old Maryland 

Then Phil mounted his horse and rode 
away, while Edward turned in the lane. Thus 
it happened that three years later Sarah Cov- 
ington became the Mistress of Wye. 

While these worthies of the earlier days 
have passed away, and their ashes are mingled 
with the dust of the old burying ground in 
which lie so many of the Lloyds, those of the 
name who survive still maintain the traditions 
of the family ; that free, old time hospitality 
for which the Eastern Shore is famous, and 
of which the Lloyds have always been ex- 
ponents, is still dispensed at Wye House by 
its present master and mistress. The visitor 
who now may cross the lawn to the "Great 
House" will be received as graciously by the 
host and hostess as was ever a guest of the 
Governor or Henrietta Maria Lloyd, both of 
whom added lustre to the name and honor to 
the State. 

The present Mistress of Wye is a grand- 
daughter of Col. John Eager Howard of 



The Romance of Wye House 77 

Revolutionary fame, and of Francis Scott Key, 
famous as the author of the ' ' Star Spangled 
Banner." 

Times have changed and new conditions 
have come about which render the cultivation 
of a large plantation well nigh impossible, 
or at least unprofitable. There are no more 
hordes of eager slaves to do the Marser's bid- 
ding. But there still remains at Wye House a 
negro of the old school, Harrison by name, 
who would scorn to work for any one but a 
Lloyd. Harrison has his place at Wye and 
knows it. Some years ago when a member of 
the family was in London, one of the children 
said: "Uncle Henry, we had a letter from 
Mr. Howard today, he is in London. Were 
you ever in London?" 

The old man scratched his head and said 
slowly, not wanting to be outdone: "Yes 
Miss, I driv' your pa there once." 



CHAPTER III. 

FRED. DOUGLASS 



^ 



URING the life of Governor Lloyd, 
there was born in St. Michaels a 
3 mulatto boy, the illegitimate son 
of a white man of considerable 
learning and a colored woman, who was owned 
by a sailing master in the employ of the 
Governor. Consequently this boy, who later 
became known to the world as Fred. Douglass, 
until he was eight years of age, was much at 
Wye and played with the little pickaninnies 
there and sometimes with the Governor's son, 
Daniel. 

When about nine years of age, the boy, 
who had accompanied his master on a trip to 
Baltimore, ran away and was lost sight of for 
years, until he turned up in the person of 
Fred. Douglass, a well educated and traveled 
man of the world. It was said that he was 
the first colored man who was ever dined by 
Queen Victoria, though I believe Booker T. 
Washington was later similarly honored. Pres- 
ident Cleveland was much censured for enter- 



Tales of Old Maryland 



taining him at the White House. Douglass 
was at one time minister to Hayti and later 
became Marshal of the District of Columbia. 

About 1 88 1 the old man was moved to 
revisit the scenes of his childhood. One 
day, in company with several customs officers 
from Baltimore, he came to Wye and in the 
absence of Col. Edward Lloyd, was shown 
over the estate by his son, Mr. Howard Lloyd* 
Douglass evinced his remarkable memory by- 
calling by name many of the points, creeks- 
and bayous, names purely local and which 
he could not have heard during his 
long absence, some of which had even then, 
been forgotten by the boatmen around St. 
Michaels. 

That blood will tell, was again proven, for 
when in the old garden, he seemed to be 
musing, entirely oblivious of his companions, 
and dropped into the negro dialect : ' ' Dar, ' ' 
he said, "is war me and Mars Dan uster trap 



Fred. Douglass 21 

rabbits." Marse Dan was the son of the 
Governor. 

Some years later Mr. Howard Lloyd was 
in a Pullman car on his way to Philadelphia 
and noticed the aged figure of Marshal Doug- 
lass in the fore part of the car. Before 
reaching the city, Mr. Lloyd went forward to 
speak to him. The Marshal evidently did 
not recognize Mr. Lloyd and greeted him with 
a cold stare, possibly suspecting him to be a 
newspaper man. Mr. Lloyd held out his hand 
and said: "I don't believe you recognize me, 
Marshal." The Marshal paused, looked at 
him keenly, then jumped to his feet, hat in 
hand: "Yes, I do; it is Mr. Howard Lloyd." 
Then followed more musings on the part of 
the old gentleman. When told by Mr. Lloyd 
that he was wearing his great grandfather's 
watch (that of the Governor) Mr. Douglass 
begged to be allowed to hold it in his hand. 

"How well I remember him," he said, 
"stately old gentleman, moving about the 



22 Tales of Old Maryland 

farm in that quiet, dignified way of his, with 
his high hat and cane." Then the eyes of 
the Marshal twinkled a bit. ' ' I remember, ' ' 
he continued, "when the Governor imported a 
bull of special breed and went out one day to 
inspect the animal. As he moved across the 
pasture, the bull glared at him with lowered 
head, but the Governor, not scenting trouble, 
went on. Presently, with a roar, the animal 
made for the old gentleman. That was the 
only time I ever saw Governor L,loyd act in 
an undignified manner, his hat went one way, 
his cane another, while the Governor made 
for the fence." 

Just what part Douglass played with John 
Brown I do not know, but letters were found 
in the possession of the latter which must 
have implicated him to a certain extent, for 
Governor Wise of Virginia made a requisition 
on President Buchanan for the person of 
"Frederick Douglas, a negro man, supposed 
now to be in Michigan, charged with murder, 



Fred. Douglass 23 

robbery and inciting servile insurrection in the 
State of Virginia." Douglass evidently had an 
idea how the land lay and went to Canada 
and later to England. The matter was never 
pushed after his return and was soon lost 
sight of. 




THE ORDER OF THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 

This gold eagle was presented by General Washington to Lieut. -Col. 
Tench Tilghman. It is one of six that Lafayette had made in Paris for 
Washington who presented one to each of his six Aides. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE QUAINT LITTLE TOWN OF OXFORD 



^J==S^: XFORD was the first town to be 
■ r^v)|B settled on the Eastern Shore of 
•\X^3^i Maryland. Just when that was is 
a bit uncertain. There are some 
who claim it was as early as 1635, and that 
it was then known as "Thread Haven;" pre- 
sumably called "Thread Haven" because of 
its excellent shipping facilities which caused 
many ships to put in for hemp, cordage, rope 
and supplies of various nature. From "Thread 
Haven" the name became "Third Haven." 
It is not difficult to imagine that the river at 
whose mouth it stands, now known as the 
" Tred Avon," is a modified form of the same 
name, though "Third Haven" is still found 
on many old maps. 

In 1695 the town was surveyed by one 
Captain Phillip Hemsley, a King's Surveyor, 
and was renamed " Williamstadt." Just when 
that name disappeared and the name of Oxford 
was used is not definitely known. It is 
claimed that a prominent Englishman who had 



26 Tales of Old Maryland 

recently graduated from Oxford University, 
came over and settled there. By his munifi- 
cence and kindness he so won the hearts of 
the people that they desired to name the town 
after him. This he would not permit, but 
suggested instead the name of Oxford, after 
his alma mater. 

Tench Tilghman, Aide de Camp on the 
staff of General Washington, was born in 
Talbot County, and was for a number of .years 
in business in Oxford. Matthew Tilghman, 
that grand old man of Maryland, spoken of 
by the historians as the ' ' Patriarch of the 
Colony," the uncle and father-in-law of 
Tench (who married his first cousin), pre- 
sented Mrs. Col. Tench Tilghman the fine old 
estate of Philhimmon, now owned by Mr. W. 
H. Meyers of Oxford. The widow of Tench 
Tilghman is buried in the Oxford cemetery. 
Near her grave is a tomb erected to the 
memory of her illustrious husband. Strange 
to say, and contrary to the general impres- 




X h 



5 >* 

7 ° 
o s 

z 



The Quaint Little Town of Oxford 27 

sion, Col. Tench Tilghman is not buried there, 
but is buried in Old St. Paul's Cemetery in 
Baltimore. The tomb at Oxford is merely 
erected in his honor and bears this inscription: 

IN MEMORY 

of 

TENCH TILGHMAN, 

Lt.-Col. in the Continental Army, 

and Aide de Camp of Washington, 

who spoke of him thus : 
"He was in every action in which the 
Main Army was concerned. A great part 
of the time he refused to receive pay. 
While living, no man could be more 
esteemed, and since dead, none more 
lamented. No one had imbibed sentiments 
of greater friendship for him than I had 
done. He left as fair a reputation as ever 
belonged to human character." 
Died April 18th, 1785. 
Aged 42 years. 

The Tilghman homestead was the Hermit- 
age on the Chester River, near Chestertown. 



28 Tales of Old Maryland 

This property is now owned by a daughter of 
the late Otto Holland Williams who inherited 
it from his sister, the widow of Richard Cooke 
Tilghman. It was here that Matthew Tilgh- 
man was born, February 17th, 17 18. Tilgh- 
man' s Island was once owned by him, as well 
as several thousand acres in Talbot County; 
the present site of the town of Claiborne was 
originally a part of his estate. 

The sword which Congress presented to 
Col. Tench Tilghman in recognition of his 
famous ride from Yorktown to Philadelphia, 
carrying to the Continental Congress then in 
session at that place the news of the sur- 
render of Lord Cornwallis, is now in the pos- 
session of Col. Oswald Tilghman of Kaston, 
the present Secretary of State. 

It is not a generally known fact that 
Robert Morris, father of the financier of the 
Revolution, lived for many years in Oxford, in 
fact was a prominent and successful business 
man there, having large shipping interests. 




TENCH TILGHMAN'S SWORD 



The Quaint Little Town of Oxford 2Q 

It was the fortune thus made, inherited by his 
son, which enabled the latter to be of such 
great assistance to Washington in his worst 
times of need. 

History says that Robert, Jr., was born in 
England, yet the records show that his father 
moved to Oxford before the birth of his son, 
and remained there until he died, July 12th, 
1750, from the effect of having his arm shat- 
tered by a wad from a gun fired as a salute 
in his honor from one of his own ships. He 
is buried in the Old White Marsh Church 
burying ground. 

There are some who say that Robert, Jr., 
was born in what is now a wing of the old 
Tred Avon Hotel, the Morris homestead hav- 
ing stood on that site. 




CHAPTER V. 

OLD WHITE MARSH CHURCH 

|N the road leading from Easton to 
Oxford, near Hamilton, or "Hole 
in the Wall," as it is sometimes 
called, amid the tangled briers 
and weeds of its unkept grave yard, stand 
the ruins of Old White Marsh Church, a mel- 
ancholy reminder of earliest Colonial Times. 

Before the doorway of the old church, 
many an old fashioned coach has stood, its 
body hung to the running gear by leathern 
straps; the postillion and outriders gossiping 
with the servants from other plantations while 
the owners were taking the sacrament inside. 
Within the old cemetery sleeps many a pow- 
dered wig, many a man who, no doubt, took 
a prominent part in the colony, but whose 
grave now is unmarked and unknown. 

If the ruins but had a tongue, it would 
not be necessary for the scribes who have 
attempted to wring from reluctant old records 
the history of the church, to use such phrases 
as: "It is said," or "there is a story told." 



32 Tales of Old Maryland 

For, I doubt not, if they could but speak for 
themselves, the tales they could tell of the 
belles and beaux who have smiled across its 
aisles, the lovers whose vows were there sealed 
in holy matrimony, who later returned after 
time had placed its mark upon their brows, to 
be laid in the little city of the dead in the 
yard outside, we should find romances enough, 
which aside from any historical value this 
sketch may have, would be sufficient excuse 
for its appearance here. 

The old church, after facing the storms 
and suns of two centuries and two score years, 
was destroyed by fire, the victim of careless- 
ness. Much of its earlier history is lost in 
the maze of time, but certain it is that this is 
one of the very first church buildings ever 
erected in the New World for the Church of 
England. It was constructed of English brick, 
brought over in the clipper ships and paid for 
in tobacco, about 1658. 



Old White Marsh Church JJ 

One of the many interesting stories which 
are told about this old church, concerns a 
Doctor Maynadier, a Huguenot, who was rec- 
tor in 171 1. The rectory was situated about 
a mile from the church. The wife of the 
minister was taken ill, was pronounced dead 
and buried in the church burying ground. 
During her illness Mrs. Maynadier had expres- 
sed the wish that she be buried with an old 
ring of considerable value. After the funeral, 
two strangers who had heard of the ring and 
its extraordinary value, hied themselves to the 
cemetery and after dark opened the grave and 
attempted to remove the ring from the ringer 
of the worthy lady. This they were unable to 
do, so one of them drew a knife and severed 
the finger at the joint. Now, according to the 
story, Mrs. Maynadier was not dead, but in a 
trance, and the pain inflicted by the finger 
being severed caused her to regain conscious- 
ness, much to the fright of the two rogues, 
who made a hurried exit. Summoning all her 



34 Tales of Old Maryland 

courage and strength, with her shroud wrapped 
closely around her, she managed to walk the mile 
to the rectory where she fainted after falling 
against the library door. The astonished rector 
picked up the form of his wife and bore it to 
a couch. It is claimed that she fully recovered 
from the shock of her experience and lived for 
a number of years afterwards. When at last 
she did die, she was again buried and so far 
as known, has remained so. 

In one of the unmarked graves lies — or 
ought to lie, for tradition says that once a 
year it comes forth and again visits the scenes 
of life — the body of an old doctor, who dur- 
ing life was famous for two things; his skill 
as a practitioner and the brand of whiskey he 
drank. Some attributed the former to the 
latter, as he was said to be at his best when 
drunk. Be that as it may, one day while in 
his cups, he was sent for to attend a close 
friend who had accidently shot himself. The 
senses of the old gentleman this time were a 



Old White Marsh Church SS 

little dulled, and instead of going to his friend 
who died for want of surgical aid, he wandered 
about the county roads in his one horse shay, 
muttering: "Show me the way; oh, show me 
the way," finally dying from exposure and 
cold. 

On every anniversary of his death, along 
the county roads in that vicinity, it is said 
that you can hear the rattle of the old vehicle 
and a voice muttering: "Show me the way; 
oh, show me the way." 

Robert Morris, father of the financier of 
the Revolution, who is spoken of in another 
chapter, is buried in the old grave yard. The 
original tombstone long since broken and 
undecipherable, has been replaced by the 
Daughters of the American Revolution and 
bears this inscription: 



36 Tales of Old Maryland 

IN MEMORY 

of 

ROBERT MORRIS, 

Natiye of Liverpool in Great Britain, 
Late merchant at Oxford. 

Punctuality and Fidelity influenced his dealings. 

Principle and honesty governed his actions 
with an uncommon degree of sincerity. 

He despised art and dissimulation. 

His friendship was Firm, Candid and Valuable. 

His charity Free, Discrete and Well Adapted. 

His zeal for the public was active and useful. 

His hospitality was enhanced by his conversation 
with cheerful wit and sound judgment. 

A salute from the cannon of a ship, the wad 
fracturing his arm, was the means by which he 
departed on the 12th day of July, MDCCL. 




CHAPTER VI. 

A HOUSE WITH A STRANGE HISTORY 

|N A thickly wooded piece of land, 
which thrusts itself into the Miles 
(or St. Michael's) river, between 
Glebe and Goldsborough creeks, 
stands a house with a strange history, famil- 
iarly spoken of as "The Villa." 

As early as 1661, Wenlock Christ ison, the 
much persecuted Quaker of Boston, secured 
from Lord Baltimore a grant of land in Mary- 
land, of which the present site of "The Villa" 
is a portion. Here Christison found a refuge 
under the religious toleration of Maryland and 
soon became one of the prominent men of the 
community, wearing his hat in the presence of 
Governors and magistrates alike. 

The property remained in the Christison 
family for several generations, when it passed 
to one Isaac Atkinson, who had married into 
the family. A fragment of the old manor 
house, built of English brick, still remains 
just back of where "The Villa" now stands, 



3 8 Tales of Old MaryLnd 

a fast crumbling relic of the early settlement 
of the province. 

After some years, the estate passed into 
the hands of Richard France, the Lottery 
King, ( the State at that time legalized the 
lottery) who realized the opportunities of the 
site, built there an elegant mansion, surround- 
ing it with walks, fountains and statuary and 
every conceivable luxury that money could 
buy. 

Within a few years the conscience of the 
State Fathers began to worry them, and they 
revoked the license of the Lottery King, who 
thereupon went to Delaware, and being a 
small state, it is said, bought up the legisla- 
ture with but one exception, for which bur- 
gess, who was of a religious mind, he built 
a church. In a short while, Delaware too, 
became prudish, and France again lost his 
license. Then followed reverses, caused mostly 
by the plundering of the business by a com- 
petitor, whom he had been compelled to take 




THE VILLA 



A House with a Strange History jq 

into partnership, and the last we hear of the 
"Lottery King" is that he died in a debtor's 
prison. 

Then followed a Mr. May, of Baltimore, 
as owner of the property, a churlish recluse, 
for whom no one had any very great regard. 
After his death, a Mr. Randall succeeded to 
the proprietorship of what seems to be this 
unlucky property, dispensed a lavish hospi- 
tality, soon squandering a large fortune in 
attempting to revive the grandeur of early 
days. 

With the exit of Mr. Randall, "The 
Villa's" day of decline began. The walks 
were overgrown with grass, the garden gods 
fell from their pedestals and the fountains 
became choked with briers and weeds. 

Next came a Mr. Brady, of New York, 
who had neither the means nor the inclination 
for a country life. Under his regime ' ' The 
Villa" did not revive its former grandeur. 
The fine old trees which dotted the lawn, 



40 Tales of Old Maryland 

were all that time and neglect had not 
affected. They stand today firmer and sturdier 
for the many trials and troubles which they 
have looked down upon during the more than 
200 years since Christison first took up his 
abode there. 

It is claimed, and not without reason, that 
this secluded spot was used by Boss Tweed as 
a place of refuge when he was fleeing from 
justice in New York. The neighbors caught 
fleeting glimpses of an old man with a flowing 
beard, moving furtively about the place until 
a yacht anchored off shore, and with its disap- 
pearance the next day, the shutters of the 
old house were opened, revealing many shock- 
ing gaps in the panes, and the mysterious 
stranger was not seen again. 

Mr. Brad)', it is said, was formerly a gar- 
dener on the country place of Boss Tweed on 
the Hudson. This adds color to the prob- 
ability of the fugitive seeking refuge there. 



A House with a Strange History 41 

The negroes claim it is "hanted," and I 
have been told it is impossible to get one to 
stay on the place at night. 

Dr. George Nickerson, of Easton, next 
bought the property, and in a short while 
sold it to a lady in Washington. It later 
became the home of the Maryland Nautical 
Academy, but the unfortunate history of the 
place seemed to follow it, for the Academy 
did not flourish, and it too is now a matter 
of history. 




CHAPTER VII. 
¥3 

THE STORY OF ROYAL OAK 

HE little town of Royal Oak has 
more to make it famous than the 
particular brand of ' 'fried chicken" 
which it annually serves up to the 
summer boarders who come there in hordes, 
watch the slaughter of the pullets, dig their 
toes into the sandy beaches and acquire a 
genuine salt air tan with which to begin 
another year's work before again having two 
or three weeks of delicious idleness in which 
to breathe in the pure air of "God's Own 
Country." 

There are many who claim that the East- 
ern Shore of Maryland is the site of the 
original Garden of Eden and the good folks 
around Royal Oak and Saint Michaels firmly 
maintain that it was right there the Garden 
stood — a claim supported by many Baltimore- 
ans. 

There are two stories told of the way in 
which the town got its name. One is, that 
during the war of 1812 as the British fleet 



44 Tales of Old Maryland 

came up the Chesapeake, it got a whiff of the 
aroma arising from the frying pans in which 
the pullets were assuming a beautiful brown 
and put into the Eastern Bay to investigate. 
A part of the investigation was to shell the 
town of St. Michaels at night, which would 
no doubt have suffered quite a bit, but for 
the long head of one General Benson, who 
ordered all the lights in the lower floors of 
the houses put out and carried to the upper 
rooms and roofs instead, thus causing the 
British to aim their shots so high that the 
major part of them passed harmlessly over 
the town. 

According to this version, two shots which 
were fired in the direction of Royal Oak, 
struck a gigantic white oak tree which stood 
on the present site of the store of P. M. 
Pastorfield & Brother. From this instance the 
tree was called "Royal Oak" and the village 
which was fast growing up around it, became 
known by the same name. 



The Story of Royal Oak 45 

Another version of the origin of the name, 
well vouched for, is that the town was 
known as Royal Oak before the war of 1812, 
taking its name from this remarkable old tree 
which is said to have measured 40 feet in 
circumference one foot above the ground. This 
tree stood until 1867, when it was cut down 
by T. P. Pastorfield, as its branches which 
overspread the county road, were a menace to 
travel. 

Two cannon balls, a large one and a small 
one, were found near Royal Oak and were 
taken by Mr. Robert Banning, who kept them 
on his farm for a number of years when they 
fell into the possession of one Elijah Marshall, 
an oysterman, who having no idea of their 
historical value, used them as an anchor for 
his boat. They were seen and recognized, 
however, by a Mr. Henry Banning, a promi- 
nent bank president of Wilmington, Delaware, 
who had them sent to his home where they re- 
mained until 1885, when Mr. Banning returned 



46 Tales of Old Maryland 

them to the town through Dr. J. A. Robinson, 
requesting that they be properly preserved 
and suspended so as to be in plain sight of 
all. The balls were then placed in front 
of the store of P. M. Pastorfield & Brother, 
where they still may be seen. 



CHAPTER VIII. k 

THE OLD QUAKER MEETING HOUSE 




HE oldest building now standing 
ever erected for public worship 
in Maryland, (and I believe in 
the thirteen colonies) is the Old 
Quaker Meeting House on the outskirts of 
Kaston. 

The Society of Friends, or Quakers, is 
strong in this section. Minutes of meetings 
of the Society held as early as 1660 are still 
in existence, and show that this building was 
started in 1682, was finished two years later, 
the first meeting being held there on the 24th 
day of October, 1684. The Old Swedes Church 
at Wilmington was not erected until 1698. 

Prior to the time this building was erected, 
the Society met at private residences and at a 
house which stood on Betty's Cove, now a 
part of the estate of Senator R. B. Dixon. 
No trace of the Betty's Cove Meeting House, 
is left. 

The following is an extract from the 
minutes of the Society held in 1681, when it 



%C 



48 Tales of Old Maryland 

was decided to build a new meeting house: 
"This meeting, according to ye advice of 
ye last Half Year's Meeting, makes choice of 
William Southbee, Henry Woolchurch, William 
Sharp, Lovelace Gorsuch and William Stevens, 
Jun'r., to purchase ye land for ye meeting- 
house of John Edmondson, viz., three acres, 
and to get a firm conveyance for it, with free 
egress and progress to ye sd land according 
to a deed of uses, and also yt ye sd John 
Edmondson and ye aforesd Friends, advise 
together for ye most convenient place upon 
the said land to sett ye building upon, and 
also to agree with ye carpenter or carpenters 
for ye building of ye sd house, according to 
the dimensions hereafter specified, 60 foote 
long, 44 foote wide and to be strong, sub- 
stantial frame work, with good white oak 
ground sills and posts, with girders and sum- 
mers, and small joyst, and ye upper floors to 
be laid in plank, and ye roof to be double 
raftered, and good principal rafters, every 10 



The Old Quaker Meeting House 4Q 

foote, and to be double studded below, and to 
be well braced and windows convenient, and 
shutters, and good large stairs into ye cham- 
bers, which chambers are to be 40 foote square 
at each end of ye house, so yt they may be 
entire and 20 foote vacant space betwixt them; 
and for other conveniencys to be left to the 
descretion of ye aforesaid Friends." 

Just how two rooms on the second floor, 
each 40 foote square with a " 20 foote vacant 
space betwixt them ' ' can be gotten into a 
building whose dimensions are specified as 
being ' ' 44 foote wide and 60 foote long, ' ' is 
more than I can figure out. There are many 
lessons which the builders of "ye olden time" 
can teach the modern contractor, and possibly 
this is one of them. Those who may be 
interested in knowing how the thing was done 
can go there and measure for themselves. 

This old frame structure was used as a 
place of meeting until 1880, when a brick 
building was completed a few yards away. 



jo Tales of Old Maryland 

Within the walls of the old structure have 
worshipped many of the prominent persons of 
the colonies. William Penn and George Fox 
are said to have visited there. Lady Balti- 
more came with a retinue of servants ' ' to see 
how these simple folks worship." She was so 
moved by the powerful speech of a blacksmith 
that she went away deeply impressed. 

The Meeting House is located near a 
branch of the Tred Avon River, formerly 
called Third Haven, hence it was called the 
"Third Haven Meeting House near Talbot 
Court House." Kaston was then only a ham- 
let known as Pitts Bridge. 

It was to the Third Haven Meeting House 
that Sarah Covington came to attend one of 
the quarterly meetings, mounted on a pillion 
behind her father, and was seen by the broth- 
ers, Philemon and Edward Lloyd, both of 
whom fell in love with her as told in another 
chapter. No doubt there were many other 
romances of similar nature which owed their 



The Old Quaker Meeting House 



origin to the meetings which brought together 
the Friends from all over the Eastern part of 
the Province. 

In the old grave-yard which is near at 
hand, it is said many bodies were interred 
feet foremost, thus causing the dead to stand 
in their graves, bolt upright as when in life. 

While the building shows many signs of 
age, it stands today precisely as erected 225 
years ago. The old benches, painful in their 
severe hardness, on which the simply clad 
Friends, wearing their hats, waited for the 
spirit to move them, are still to be seen. 
This is comparatively a new country, but 
when we think that this building has seen 
part of four centuries, it doesn't seem so new 
after all. Built the latter part of the 17th 
century, it lived through the 18th and 19th, 
and is now well on its way into the 20th. 

Who can tell, perhaps some chronicler of 
the 2 1 st century with a more versatile pen 
than mine, may have something more to 
say of this remarkable old building. 




CHAPTER IX. 

SOME OLD COLONIAL HOMES 

MYRTLE GROVE. 

SZSnUST across from "The Villa," on 
the opposite shore of Goldsbor- 
ough's Creek, is Myrtle Grove, 
the home of Mr. Charles Golds- 
borough, and as fine a specimen of the old 
colonial manor house as we have. Of a differ- 
ent type from Wye, more like Readbourne, it 
is built of brick along plain and simple lines, 
yet withal an impressive and dignified build- 
ing. 

The frame part of the house was built in 
1734 and the brick part in 1795. Contrary to 
the story generally told about Myrtle Grove, 
the bricks were not brought from England 
but were made on the farm, and the exca- 
vation from which the clay was taken can 
still be seen. 

The interior of the house is noteworthy for 
its broad hall and graceful stair; the rooms all 
of lofty ceilings, furnished now, as a hundred 



54 Talts of Old Maryland 

years ago, with solid mahogany furniture of 
massive yet simple design. 

Near the house are a number of gigantic 
trees, some of which must be several centuries 
old, while the driveway, now overgrown with 
grass and weeds, is lined on either side with 
trees of great size and beauty. 

Myrtle Grove, in its day, was one of the 
social centres of the Shore, and many a belle 
and beau have danced in the great rooms and 
hall. I think I can see them now, on the 
eve of a dance. The guests are arriving in 
their great, lumbering coaches with outriders, 
coming up the driveway, while others, possibly 
the Lloyds from Wye, are coming by barge, 
rowed by a crew of blacks, and are making a 
landing at the pier. 

Quite a pretty picture they make, crossing- 
the greensward. The dainty lady with her 
powdered hair and patches with the gallants 
in all their finery of knee breeches, silk hose, 
buckled slippers, lace ruffles and cocked hats. 



Some Old Colonial Homes jj 

It was a bright day in June of the year 
1905 that I first visited Myrtle Grove, but the 
quaint charm of the place took me captive. 
Everything, from the old trees on the lawn 
to the house itself with it's grandfather's clock 
(not bought from an antique dealer), Chippen- 
dale chairs and the huge four posted beds, 
spoke eloquently of the most picturesque 
period of our history. Amid such surround- 
ings, it did not require much of a flight of 
the imagination to be back among the dames 
and squires of a hundred years before. If 
Madam Goldsborough herself had stepped into 
the great hall to bid me farewell as I departed, 
I should not have been very much surprised, 
for that was all that was lacking to make the 
setting of the picture complete. 

READBOURNE. 

In Readbourne, the ancestral home of the 
Hollyday family on the Chester River in Queen 
Anne County, we have a colonial manor of 



56 Tales of Old Maryland 

a different type from Wye, but none the less 
pleasing. Like the other mansions of its 
period it is terraced down to the river and 
commands an unrivalled view of the surround- 
ing country. 

When Colonel James Hollyday, who was a 
member of Lord Baltimore's Council, brought 
his bride, who was the beautiful Miss Coving- 
ton, and before her marriage to Col. Hollyday 
the widow of Col. Edward Lloyd of Wye 
House, to Readbourne, they lived for a while 
in a small house which they called ' ' The 
Box." In the meantime Mrs. Hollyday, with 
the assistance of her husband's friend, Lord 
Baltimore, planned and built the stately 
mansion, the bricks for which were brought 
over from England, the ships returning with 
cargoes of tobacco. 

Readbourne was completed in 1734. Tht 
walls are panelled and the stairway is of a 
gracefully winding design. 



Some Old Colonial Homes 57 

This stately old mansion was made famous 
by Mrs. Hollyday for the lavish hospitality 
with which she entertained and which has 
ever been characteristic of this old and distin- 
guished family. 

Like Myrtle Grove and the other manors 
of that time, Readbourne was a rendezvous 
for the belles and beaux of the counties of 
Kent, Queen Anne and Talbot. 

It was the custom in those days for each 
plantation to have its own burying ground, 
which was usually near the house. Whether 
this was due to the fact that the distances 
between the various homes were too great to 
have a common place of burial, or because of 
a desire to have their loved dead near them, 
I do not know. It may have been from a 
desire to protect the graves from prowling 
animals which were more plentiful then, and 
in the earliest times from the Indians as well. 
Back of the manor of Readbourne is the 



j8 Talis 9/ Old Maryland 

burying ground in which all the Hollydays 
have been laid to rest. 

The grave of Colonel James Hollyday is 
marked with a tomb which bears this inscrip- 
tion : 

Here lies buried the body of 

Coi,. JAMES HOLLYDAY 
Who departed this life on the 
8th day of October 1747 
Aged 52 years. 
"He was for many years one of his 
Lordship's Council and in public and 
private life, always supported the charac- 
ter of a worthy gentleman and a good 
christian." 

The portrait of Mrs. Sarah Lloyd 
Hollyday, who built the old mansion at 
Readbourne, is now owned and in the 
possession of Col. Henry Hollyday, Jr., of 
"St. Aubin" near Easton, who is her great- 
great- great-grandson. 

The portrait which is nearly 200 years old, 
was painted when she was very young, and 



Some Old Colonial Homes $q 

shows at once what a beautiful and lovely 
girl she must have been. 

The following is an extract from the will 
of "Mrs. Sarah Hollyday," recorded in Liber 
W. H. ct. No. i, folio 80, etc., one of the 
Will Record Books for Queen Anne's County, 
Maryland." The will is dated March 24th, 
1749, and was proved August 1st, 1775. 

' ' Witnesses : 

Henrietta Maria Robins, 

Esther Wrightson, 

John Gourdsley. 
Devises : 

"For as much as r children, 

Edward Lloyd, Richard Lloyd and Rebecca 
Anderson, are settled in 

circumstances, that it cannot De thought that 
they stand in need of any assistance from me, 
I give to each of my said children a mourn- 
ing ring to be paid for and delivered by my 
Executor. 



60 Tales of Old Maryland 

' ■ Whereas I have given to my son, Henry- 
Holly day, by deed, negroes and stock and have 
also given him the sum of ^200 Sterling and 
100 pounds currency, I do hereby ratify and 
confirm the said gifts and I do give to my 
said son, Henry Hollyday, a mourning ring to 
be delivered by my Executor. 

"I further give to my son, Henry Holly- 
day, 150 acres, part of a tract of land lying 
in Talbot County called ' Hemsley's Brittania.' 

\ ' To my daughters-in-law, Anne I^loyd 
anH A — ~ Mari day, to each of them 

a mourning ring. 

l-law, William Ander- 
son, a mourning ric 

"I give to my son, James Hollyday, my 
plat ehold goods and stock of all kinds, 

and all the rest and residue of my personal 
estate." 

The will is duly signed by Mrs. Hollyday 
and states that her son, James Hollyday, was 
the executor. 



Some Old Colonial Homes 6l 

RATCLIFFE MANOR. 

In 1749, Henry Hollyday, the son of Col. 
James Hollyday and Sarah Covington Hollyday, 
brought his bride who was Anna Maria 
Robins, to Ratcliffe on the bank of the Tred 
Avon. Just when Ratcliffe was built I have 
not been able to ascertain, but it must have 
been about 1740. 

Like Readbourne, it is built of brick which 
was no doubt brought over from England. 
By many Ratcliffe is regard u st type 

of the brick Colonial mar house i: 
ence. Its portico is perfectly proportioned 
to the size and style of house. 

The entrances, or porticoes, to the ho 
of that period were among their most attrac- 
tive features, indeed the keys to the success 
or failure of the houses architecturally. If 
the portico was not in perfect taste and did 
not harmonize with the remainder of the 
building, the effect was lost. 



62 Tales of Old Maryland 

Ratcliffe was for a number of years the 
residence of the late Charles Hooper Gibson, 
the last Eastern Shoreman to ocupy a seat in 
the United States Senate, — more's the pity. 

THE ANCHORAGE. 

When Commodore Charles Lowndes of the 
United States Navy married Miss Sarah Scott 
Lloyd, daughter of Governor Lloyd, the fine 
old estate known as ' ' The Anchorage ' ' was 
givoB *~ tl wedded couple by the Gov- 

house is one of the show places 
lit state. It after the same style as 

Wye, and of fra e construction, with its main 
.ding connected on either side by corridors 
5. ..ings, its lofty portico sup- 
ported by large columns, it is one of the best 
examples of the frame houses of the Georgian 
period in existence. 

This estate, unfortunately, like many of 
the old places, has passed out of the family 
and is now owned by the estate of the late 



Some Old Colonial Homes 63 

General Chas. Chipley, who during his life 

time did much to improve the property, yet 

retaining all the style and dignity of the 
times in which it was built. 

The Anchorage is on the bank of the Miles 
River, with Myrtle Grove and the Villa within 
plain sight. At the end of the long bridge 
which spans the river at this point, and con- 
nects the "neck" with the road leading to 
Easton, stands an old stone church. This was 
erected for the use of the plantation owners 
in the "neck," had its own rector, thus 
doing away with the long ride to Baston to 
attend service. 

The building has not been used for that 
purpose for years, and is now rapidly becom- 
ing a picturesque ruin, though I believe when 
the Maryland Nautical Academy was conducted 
at The Villa, the cadets used the building 
as a chapel. 



CHAPTER X. 

PATTY CANNON 




EAR the peaceful little town of 
Reliance in the eastern part of 
Dorchester County, only a few 
yards distant from the Delaware 
line, stands a house around which in the early 
part of the nineteenth century, were enacted 
many deeds of blood. This was a place of 
terror to the negroes of the two states, for 
here were the headquarters of Patty Can- 
non's gang, and in those days, "her's was a 
name to conjur with." One had but to men- 
tion to a negro that Patty Cannon was com- 
ing and the darkey would turn as ashen a 
hue as his color would permit and fly for 
his life. 

It was also noteworthy as much for the 
villany of Joe Johnson, Patty's son-in-law, as 
for Patty herself, and to this day the site of 
Joe Johnson's tavern is on the map as "J onn - 
son's Cross Roads." 

Rarely in modern times do we find a 
woman so void of all human emotions and 



\ 



66 Tales of Old Maryland 

sympathies as this degenerate creature who 
was at the head of as vile a gang of slave 
traders, cut throats and murderers as ever 
stretched a gallows rope. 

It was about 1802 that Patty Hanley came 
to the Eastern Shore of Maryland from parts 
unknown and married a bright mechanic of 
good family, named Jesse Cannon. They had 
two children, one of whom married Joe John- 
son, with whom she later made an alliance for 
the purpose of stealing and selling slaves. 

Jesse Cannon died mysteriously and it was 
thought his wife made way with him, though 
there was no tangible evidence. Many years 
later, when the net of her own misdeeds was 
closing in about her, she admitted having 
given him poison. 

Some say that Patty was a gypsy. She 
was more or less robust, had a wealth of 
black hair and her face, while showing the 
effects of her evil passions and dissipations, 
was more or less good to look upon. 



Patty Cannon 67 

The gypsy blood in her seemed to 
be dominant, for she coveted wealth with 
a passion that brooked no interference. A 
human life, if it stood between her and the 
realization of her desires, counted for naught. 
Many murders were laid at her door, blood 
shed by her own hand, while in her garden 
she had a small cemetery of her own in which 
she buried her victims. If any of the negro 
women hidden at the tavern had children 
which were too small to be marketable, they 
mysteriously disappeared. On one occasion 
when the crying of an infant annoyed her, 
flying into a violent passion, she seized the 
child and threw it into the fire. 

It was her greed for gold that led to the 
alliance with her son-in-law, which for many 
years reaped a rich harvest. The spot selected 
for her house and that of Johnson could not 
have been better located for the purpose. 
About midway between Easton and Princess 
Anne, with Dover onlv a short distance to 



68 Tales from Old Maryland 

the east, they had a rich field for the plying 
of their nefarious traffic. At that time that 
section of the country was but sparsely settled 
and was surrounded on every hand by dense 
tracts of timber land. Located between the 
Chesapeake and the Delaware Bays, little arms 
and branches of which made up near the 
place, they had the double advantage of being 
able to work by water as well as by land. 

Patty's house was erected squarely on the 
line between the two states, so that when the 
officers from one state came for her, she had 
but to go into an adjoining room to be out of 
their jurisdiction. The house built by John- 
son, which he erected at the cross roads, was 
within calling distance of Patty's and only a 
few yards from the line. 

This house was known far and wide as 
"Joe Johnson's Tavern." It was here that 
the miserable wretches were kept imprisoned 
in the attic until a favorable opportunity pre- 
sented itself for their being spirited down 



Patty Cannon 6g 

South, or until a "nigger trader from Georgie" 
came for them. 

The attic was specially constructed for this 
purpose, and many of the devices put there 
for the safe keeping of the prisoners remained 
for many years after the death of Patty and 
the escape of Johnson. It has been described 
to me by one who saw it, as being "sealed 
with two inch white oak plank, with ring 
bolts fastened securely into the ceiling and 
walls, to each of which a chain was attached. 
The space was divided into two rooms, the 
back room being without windows, while the 
door opening into it was double, with heavy 
iron fastenings. There was a sort of transom 
over the door, strongly protected by iron bars, 
through which came the only ventilation the 
room ever had." 

While Johnson was the working head of 
the gang, it was Patty's fertile brain which 
devised the many subtle schemes by which 
they worked. 



70 Tales of Old Maryland 

One of the plans which was successful for 
a long while was that Johnson would engage 
a number of free negroes as a crew for his 
boat, which was supposed to be employed in a 
legitimate traffic. When once he got them on 
board and below deck, the hatches were bat- 
tened down and he then put back for home, 
turning the captives over to the tender mercies 
of Patty who arranged for their sale to the 
slave traders further South. 

Woe to the man who went to the ' ' Cross 
Roads ' ' to buy slaves and carried too much 
money. On one occasion, when an injudicious 
trader spoke of his "roll," he was told in 
a friendly way that the ' ' Tavern ' ' was not 
a safe place for a man with much money on 
his person and was cordially invited to stop at 
Patty Cannon's across the way. While at 
supper Mistress Patty excuses herself and goes 
into the garden to do some hoeing. Slipping 
up behind the guest, while he was still at 
the table, she shoots him dead and with the 



Patty Cannon 71 

assistance of a negro in her employ, dismem- 
bered the body so as to get it into a chest 
which was buried in her private cemetery. 

So wholesome was the fear in which she 
was held by this darkey, that for years he 
kept the secrets of the house and its many 
tragedies. 

It was for this very murder that fourteen 
years later she was arrested and locked up in 
the Georgetown jail. Probably it would never 
have been discovered but for the fact that 
while having the field plowed one spring 
when the ground was soft, the horses broke 
through this shallow grave, disclosing its 
ghastly contents. This exposure, together 
with the betrayal of the negro who assisted, 
led to her undoing. 

Another of the plans by which the negroes 
were entrapped was by means of several 
agents, many of them negroes themselves, who 
caused it to be known that their house was a 
refuge for runaway slaves and that assistance 



y 



72 Tales of Old Maryland 

would be given them to escape North. When 
once a runaway took refuge there, he was 
detained long enough for word to reach Patty, 
when a raid would be made, and not only the 
fugitive, but the decoy as well, would be tied 
hand and foot and carried off, despite his 
loud protestations. The decoy was, of course, 
later released and returned to bait another 
trap. By this means suspicion was for a long 
time averted. 

After a while, even this failed to bring 
results and more desperate means were em- 
ployed. Not satisfied with capturing free 
slaves and fugitives on their way to a free 
state, they would steal negroes in bondage. 
The last raid of any consequence which was 
planned and executed, was into the very town 
of Dover itself, though on account of a warn- 
ing given of their coming, it failed dismally. 

One human trait which seemed to have 
remained in this woman, was that she loved 
with all the passion of her nature, the worst 



Patty Cannon 7J 

villain of the gang. Perhaps it was his con- 
summate skill in the trade which called forth 
her admiration. But her love was never to 
be rewarded, for he received injuries in the 
Dover raid from which he died on the porch 
of the tavern even as the officers of Maryland 
were closing in about the house to arrest the 
mistress. 

Johnson had received warning of the ex- 
pected arrest and had made good his escape 
the night before, taking with him a large 
sum of money which Patty had obtained by 
murdering a slave trader whose gold had 
caught her avaricious eye. In vain did she 
beg Johnson to take her with him ; cursing 
her for the selfish gratification of her own 
desires which had caused their downfall, he 
left her to her fate. 

Thus she stood, on the porch of the old 
tavern, deserted by all those whom she had 
gathered round her, with the dead body of 
the only man she ever loved staring her in 



74 Tales of Old Maryland 

the face, when the officers approached her. 
She made no protest and went to the George- 
town jail, where she was placed in a cell and 
chained in much the same manner as she had 
treated her own captives. 

Filled with remorse at the failure of her 
plans and her desertion by the members of 
her gang, she took poison and within a few 
days died as she had lived — miserably. 

Many stories were told of her physical 
prowess. She could stand in a bushel measure 
and lift three hundred pounds of grain to her 
shoulder. In a hand to hand fight she was 
as good as two men. Woe to the darkey who 
happened to meet her alone on the county 
road. Many a time she had grappled with a 
strapping negro, tied him hand and foot and 
thrown him unaided into a wagon. 

Dead men tell no tales, nor did the victims 
of Patty Cannon when once they got into her 
clutches. They were either sold South with- 
out having an opportunity to communicate 



Patty Cannon 75 

with friends, or were added to those who lay 
in the garden back of the house. Only one 
negro who was captured ever escaped. He 
was confined in the attic prison with a 
chain and ball. Being alone, he managed to 
open the trap door and drop into the room 
below. The house being deserted at the time, 
he made good his escape to Seaford where 
the chain and ball were taken off by a Mr. 
Hazzard, whose son later wrote a history of 
Seaford in which he included the story of the 
negro's escape. 

I have been told that some years ago, a 
young attorney of Baltimore was visiting near 
the old tavern and was dared to spend a night 
in it. The forfeit being posted, the young 
man went to the house, made himself a bed 
on the floor and went to sleep. He was 
awakened towards midnight by the sound of 
a chain dragging across the floor. Having 
an easy conscience, he struck a light and insti- 
tuted a search which revealed the presence 



j6 Tales of Old Maryland 

of a dog, which had broken loose from his 
kennel and had wandered into the house, 
dragging his chain after him. Being wide 
awake, the young man determined to find the 
mysterious chamber, the location of which so 
long defied detection, finally locating its en- 
trance from a closet with a false door. 

Meantime, several belated travelers, seeing 
lights in the old house, fled to Seaford, swear- 
ing that Patty Cannon had come back. 

The house is not haunted, far from it. 
But has been remodeled and is now occupied 
by Mr. James M. Smith and family, to whom 
I am indebted for much of this narrative. 

There has been so much said about Patty 
Cannon which could not be substantiated, 
that as a matter of curiosity I had the court 
records at Georgetown examined to see what 
indictments could be found against her. Mr. 
Ell wood Wright, the Deputy Clerk, examined 
the books as far back as 1750. Strange to 
say, in all the indictments against Patty and 



Patty Cannon 77 

the members of her gang, the case of Joseph 
Johnson for kidnapping a free negro man in 
Delaware and taking him into Maryland is the 
only instance where there is any record of the 
parties ever being brought to trial. 

While I have not been furnished with copies 
of all the indictments against the various 
members of the gang, I have one dated April 
13th, 1829, charging Patty Cannon with the 
murder of three infants seven years prior to 
that time. 

In another indictment of the same date 
she is charged with being an accessory with 
Johnson in the murder of a negro boy. 

There are no records to show that Patty 
herself was ever brought to trial. That she 
was arrested and locked up is certain, and 
that she took poison before her trial is also 
substantiated. It is claimed that she is buried 
in a corner of the jail yard at Georgetown. 
The indictment in the kidnapping case in 



78 Tales •/ Old Maryland 

which Johnson was tried and punished, is as 
follows : 

State 
vs. 
Joseph Johnson, / "Indictment. 



Kidnapping. 1 



John Stevenson, 

Jessie Cannon, 

Jessie Cannon, Jr. \ True Bill. 

Martha Cannon, 

Mary Johnson, 

November 12, 1821, the defendant, Joseph 
Johnson, pleaded "Not Guilty." " Guilty, " 
says the Attorney General. November 14th, 
182 1, continued upon affidavit of defendant 
and now to wit: this 25th day of April 1822, 
Joseph Johnson was brought to the bar of 
the Court and a Jury drawn, verdict of the 
jury "Guilty," April 30th, 1822. Notice by 
council for defendant to show cause why the 
said verdict should not be set aside because 



Patty Cannon yg 

there was reasonable grounds for the jury to 
entertain doubt of the guilt of the defendant. 

" May ist, 1822 : Upon agreement, rule 
was discharged and now to wit : the third 
day of May 1822 the defendant was brought 
into court by the Sheriff of Sussex County, 
Delaware, being convicted of having feloni- 
ously kidnapped, taken and carried away from 
this State into the State of Maryland, a free 
negro man, named Thomas Spence. 

( ' The sentence of the court is that Joseph 
Johnson shall be publicly whipped on his 
bare back with 39 lashes, well laid on, and 
shall stand one hour in the pillory with both 
ears nailed thereto, and at the expiration of 
the one hour, shall have the soft part of each 
ear cut off and shall pay the cost of this 
prosecution, and the above judgment to be 
executed on Tuesday, the fourth day of June 
next ensuing, between the hours of 10.00 
A. M. and 4 P. M." 



x £tJr 

80 «+-T^& Tales of Old Maryland 



An entry dated June 12th, 1822, reads as 
follows : 

"On Tuesday, the fourth day of June, 
between the hours of 10.00 o'clock A. M. and 
4.00 o'clock in the afternoon, the punish- 
ment upon Joseph Johnson was inflicted agree- 
able to the order of the Court, except the 
cutting off of the soft part of the ears, which 
was remitted by the Governor." 

(Signed) William Ellkgood, Sheriff. 

The Martha Cannon named in the indict- 
ment, is no doubt Patty. 



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